The Heart's Defender
by Sir Perfluous
Summary: When Harwood County falls into peril, it's going to be up to Troy to keep his cool when faced with a matchmaking Pink Ranger, lovesick classmates, and a rampaging monster.
1. Act I

**A/N:**  
 **Ok, so I figured it's finally time that I try my hand at this whole Romance genre thing. Presenting, a 3 part Megaforce adaptation inspired by Epic 20 of Tensou Sentai Goseiger.**

 **That said, I do not own Power Rangers, Goseiger, its characters, or any of its related intellectual property. I'm just a humble fan trying his best to salute the show.**

* * *

It was a bright clear Thursday afternoon as Troy Burrows made his way home from school. Beside him, his friend and fellow Ranger, Emma Goodall strolled along chattering away excitedly while readying her camera. The two had taken a detour through Harwood County's Central Park at Emma's request. With all the new Spring flowers in full bloom, she wanted to snap a couple pictures and Troy didn't mind tagging along either. After all, it was a nice day and he had no particular plans. Why not use it as an excuse to enjoy the sunlight and the company of a pretty girl while he was at it? Even better if it was Emma, he thought to himself with a small smile.

As the two ambled down a shady path, they stopped near some hedgerows with a large clump of red and pink flowers blooming.

"Well, look at that." Emma grinned playfully nudging Troy. "Nice colors, huh?"

Emma handed her book bag to Troy and focused her camera on the flowers. As she took a couple pictures, Troy kept watch, then slowly turned his head toward a nearby clump of trees. He could have sworn he had just heard a voice.

"Hey, is everything ok?" Emma asked curiously as she took notice of her distracted companion.

"Oh, sorry," Troy shrugged with a sheepish smile. "I must be crazy. I just thought I heard something over there."

The two Rangers stopped as they heard a nervous mumbling come from the same group of trees. Troy and Emma exchanged a curious look before walking over quietly to investigate. As the Rangers neared, they spied a person sitting with his back against a tree. Immediately, they both recognized him as one of their classmates, William Park. He was a tall thin young man, and while the Asian always came off as a bit shy and timid, the Rangers knew him to be a brilliant honors student and member of the school's track team. They watched as Will put his glasses back on and nervously stood up, looking as if he was practicing a speech to himself.

"Oh... hey. So, I was wondering if you'd like to... I mean, I wanted to know if you and me... no, that doesn't sound right either," he grumbled. "I'm never gonna be able to do this."

Troy looked over to see Emma make a sympathetic face and was a moment too slow to restrain her as she stepped out from their hiding spot. "Hey Will! Are you having a girl problem?"

Will spun around in panic, "Oh, Emma! I didn't see you! I wasn't... I mean, there's no problem."

Troy stepped forward to join Emma with a resigned sigh. "Hey there Will, you might as well tell her. We heard enough to figure that something was going on."

Will gave another embarrassed look upon seeing Troy, then turned back to Emma again.

"I'm sorry," she said apologetically. "We really didn't mean to embarrass you. We were just passing by and couldn't help but overhear."

Will slumped down in the grass again. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter anyway. Sarah probably wouldn't want to go out with me, even if I was able to ask her."

"Wait, are you talking about Sarah Munoz?" Troy asked, referring to one of the prettiest, most popular girls in their class.

Will nodded sheepishly. "Yeah. See what I mean?"

Emma and Troy exchanged another look before Emma clasped her hands excitedly. "You want to confess your feelings to Sarah? That's so romantic!"

"Emma..." Troy began, but the Pink Ranger ignored him and knelt down by Will to put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You can do it Will! I know you can." she said.

Will gave a hopeful smile, "You... you really think so?"

"Absolutely. This will be so exciting!" Emma answered enthusiastically. "Troy and I will even help you out. Right, Troy?"

The Red Ranger balked in surprise, "Wait! What? I never..."

"Come on Troy!" Emma protested gently. "He needs our help."

"We really shouldn't be meddling though." Troy reminded her, but he stopped and turned to see Will's hopeful look, followed by an innocent pleading expression from Emma. It was a look that he always found very hard to say no to. Ultimately, his Ranger instinct to help others got the better of him and he gave a reluctant nod. "Oh, all right."

Emma grinned and pulled Will to his feet before bounding over and dragging Troy along to start discussing their new pet project.

* * *

The next day at school, Emma and Troy sat together during lunch, watching as Will nervously stood around the lunch line waiting for Sarah to arrive. As he watched Will fidget, Troy grimaced and turned to Emma, "Do you really think that advice you gave him yesterday is going work?"

"Why not?" Emma replied, idly peeling an orange. "Everyone knows that the most important thing is to be nice to your crush and show her kindness."

"Well, yeah." Troy admitted. "But there's gotta be more to it than just being nice, right?"

Emma looked to him, "You know, you seemed pretty resistant about all this yesterday. I mean, Will is a really nice guy. Don't you want to help your fellow classmate be happy?"

Troy shrugged, "Sure I do."

"Then what's the problem?" Emma asked pointedly.

Troy looked directly at her for a moment, before glancing away, "Well... you know. I'm just not very comfortable when it comes to all the feelings and relationship stuff, so I'm probably not the best person to be handing out love advice in the first place. Besides, telling a girl how you feel about her is actually a lot tougher than you think it is."

Emma smiled sweetly and nudged his shoulder with her own, "You're not a robot Troy. I'm sure even you can figure out the right thing to say when you need to."

As she said that, the two Rangers spied Sarah Munoz enter the lunchroom. She was a pretty girl with dark Hispanic features and a petite athletic build. As she made her way across the room, Will started to approach and gave a wave as he called out timidly. "Hi Sarah!"

She turned in surprise to glance at him for a moment before two of her girlfriends came over to greet her and lead her off toward their own lunch table. Seeing Sarah distracted and led away, Will stopped and immediately turned around in the opposite direction, hoping he wouldn't come off looking any more awkward.

The two Rangers bit their lips as they watched their dejected classmate walk over and join them at their table. "That was a disaster." Will sighed. "I'm never going to work up the nerve to ask Sarah out!"

"Who's asking Sarah out?' came Jake Holling's voice as three familiar figures approached from behind and sat down next to Will.

"Judging by the looks of it, Will is." Noah answered with an amused laugh as he joined them.

Will looked in horror to see Troy and Emma's other three friends sit down at the table and insert themselves right into the conversation. "Oh great!" he moaned covering his face, "Now the whole world might as well know."

Across the table, Gia took a seat next to Troy and gave a sly grin. "Don't worry Will. We promise we won't say a word."

Troy cleared his throat and eyed the other Rangers trying to assert some leadership at the table. "Guys... do you mind?"

"Not at all." Jake replied, ignoring Troy while slinging a friendly arm around Will. "In fact, I want to help you out too."

"Wait... you do?" Will asked in surprise.

Jake lowered his voice at his end of the table. "Of course! I know exactly how you feel, wanting to ask out one of the hottest most popular girls in our class."

"Oh brother..." Noah muttered to himself, rolling his eyes.

Jake scowled at his best friend, speaking so the others could hear again. "Ok then, smart guy. How do you think Will should go about getting Sarah to say yes to him?"

Noah scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Well, I guess I'd approach it like a science problem."

Everyone at the table stopped and stared at him blankly before he continued, "What I mean, is that you need to do your research first. Find out things about Sarah, like what sorts of things she likes, or qualities she looks for in a guy... stuff like that."

"That'll only get you so far." Jake cut in waving a hand dismissively. "If you really want the girl, you have to show her that. Be bold! Be direct, and take decisive action!"

"And we've all seen how that's worked out for you so far." Gia smirked, prompting laughs from the others. "Will, I think if you want to get the girl, you've gotta do things with style and charm."

"But being kind and nice still counts for something too." Emma pointed out, adding to Gia's suggestion.

"Hmm, that's a lot to take in." Will muttered quietly with a frown. "What about you Troy? What do you think?"

Everyone stopped and turned to look at the Red Ranger expectantly. Troy searched the faces of his friends, hoping that he could come up with something halfway inspirational. "Me? Oh, well..." He then looked to Emma sitting right next to him and his brain froze. "I, uh..."

At that moment, the bell rang and the other students in the lunchroom rose up to get back to class. Saved by the bell, he thought to himself in relief. That was too close. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as he felt Gia tap him on the shoulder. "Hey Troy, we've gotta get back to class. You coming, or what?"

He nodded and stood up quickly, following her and the others back out into the hallway.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other end of Harwood County, a swirling circle of dark energy pulsed and writhed on the ground as the alien Prince Vrak stood over it. In one hand, he carried an ornate scepter. With the other hand, he held a small phial of purple colored liquid. He took a moment to study his current experiment on the ground before reaching down and pouring the liquid on top of the swirling mass of energy. Raising his scepter, he began to make circular motions over it, causing the swirling dark energy to suddenly coalesce into the dark winged form of a monster.

"Excellent." Vrak smiled to himself as he admired his handiwork. His experiments with the toxic beasts' poisons were leading him one step closer to finding a way to wipe out humanity.

Turning to the creature, Vrak held his scepter, "I am Prince Vrak, your master and creator."

The winged monster who resembled a fearsome gargoyle knelt down on one knee. "How can I serve you, master?"

Vrak gestured toward the distant skyline of the city and laughed. "You will help me study human emotions so that I can try to find a weakness to exploit. I want you to use your poison to break the humans' hearts and see how helpless they become when they give in to their own despair."

The monster nodded dutifully and extended its wings out. With a growl, it took off into the skies and began soaring toward the city while Vrak continued to look on with a malevolent grin.

* * *

Later that afternoon, the final school bell rang and students began filing out of their classes to head home for the day. As he closed the door of his locker and slung his backpack over his shoulder, Troy looked down the hall and spotted Will coming his way.

"Hey, Will!" he called, gesturing his classmate over. Will approached and the two began walking down the hall and out of the school together. "Listen," Troy began, "I just wanted to apologize about what happened at lunch today. My other friends... well, they can be a little nosy sometimes, but trust me. They mean well."

Will shrugged, "Oh, I know. And you shouldn't have to apologize either, because when you think about it, they all had some really good ideas."

Troy pondered it a moment and gave a small smile, "Yeah, I guess they did."

As they continued to walk, Will sighed, "You know Troy, part of me can't help but be a little jealous. I'll bet you never have to worry about this sort of thing."

Troy blinked in surprise, "Really? What makes you say that?"

Will shrugged, "Well, come on! For starters, you're a lot more confident, and better looking than I am. Your friends all turn to you for direction, and you're never nervous around super attractive girls... like Emma for example. If I were in your shoes, I know I'd be a nervous wreck around her."

Troy grimaced quietly to himself. That last statement wasn't too far off the mark. After a moment of silence, Troy finally spoke. "Will, I never got to offer you any advice at lunch, did I?"

Will shook his head. "Come to think of it, no."

Troy took a deep breath and turned to him. "Well, I guess you can think of all this like a karate match. You'll never know if you can beat your opponent if you never get in the ring."

"So, love is like a battle?" Will asked, confused.

"Err, let me try again," Troy answered quickly as he fumbled for a good way to put things. "Listen, I don't claim to know a lot about this stuff, and I can't even tell you what's best for you. All I can say is to just trust yourself and have the courage to take a chance when the time comes. Whatever the outcome is, the important thing is that you just have to try, because you'll never know. Maybe Sarah will wind up liking you back."

"Umm, thanks." Will answered, still scratching his head a little.

Troy's next sentence was cut short as he heard Emma suddenly call out. He turned to see the Pink Ranger give an excited wave and hurry over toward them from across the street. "Hey! I've been looking all over for you two!"

Turning to Will, she grinned proudly, "I wanted to tell you that I just arranged your first date with Sarah."

"You what?" both boys exclaimed in surprised unison.

Emma began walking down the road between them and lowered her voice conspiratorially, "I had Gia ask Sarah if she wanted to hang out at the mall with her tomorrow, and she said yes."

"But Gia's not going to be there, is she?" Troy asked, crossing his arms. "You intend for Will to show up there instead?"

"Bingo." Emma nodded proudly.

"And what about Sarah's two friends?" Troy retorted, raising an eyebrow.

"Jake and Noah were kind enough to volunteer to keep them occupied tomorrow," Emma answered with a playful wink. "Something about a mini golf double date."

"I'm sure." Troy replied rolling his eyes. "Emma, you realize your playing matchmaker shouldn't involve all these tricks or moving people around like chess pieces."

"But she's doing it to help me." Will cut in, stopping Troy. "Everyone is trying to help now. You know, you're lucky you have such good friends."

Troy scrambled to try and find a counter argument, but he couldn't.

"Besides," Will added with a smile, "If the others are going to all this trouble to give me some time alone with Sarah, then I should really take your advice. If I'm going to give it my best shot, I've got to get ready for battle, right?"

As Will hurried off, Emma looked to Troy and noticed his puzzled and slightly worried expression. "Umm, Troy? What did you just tell him anyway?"

Troy looked back to her, then gave a sigh as he kept walking. "At this point, I'm not entirely sure anymore."


	2. Act II

The next morning, Will Park made his way toward the entrance of the Harwood County mall. Even for a Saturday morning, the downtown shopping district was relatively quiet and Will brushed away a piece of lint on the new sporty blazer that he wore. It was almost 11AM and just like Gia had planned, Sarah Munoz was already waiting beside a nearby fountain in the square, checking her watch and looking around. Taking a deep breath, Will steeled his nerves and wove through the crowd to approach her.

Up above on the plaza's second floor balconies, Troy and Emma watched curiously as they saw Will begin speaking to Sarah. After a few moments of talking, they saw Sarah stand up and give a smiling nod as she followed Will along the main strip of stores.

"Well, so far so good." Troy grinned stepping away from their vantage point. "I was a little worried at first, but I think our job here is done."

"Wait!" Emma called from the balcony. "Don't you think we should maybe follow along for a little while? You know, just to make sure everything is ok?"

"No. We're not going to spy." Troy smiled gently beginning to stroll down the walkway. "We already did our duty as cupid's helpers."

"Oh, I know." Emma smiled catching up to him and hooking her arm around his. "I was thinking we'd act more like guardian angels for now."

"Or... how about we just go and do something else if it'll keep your mind off of matchmaking for a while?" Troy sighed.

"Something else huh? Just you and me for the day?" Emma said, leaning into his arm with a playful flirtatiousness.

"Oh..." Troy sputtered in surprise as his cheeks grew warm, "Well, what I meant was..."

At that moment, both Rangers' morphers went off and Troy silently thanked Gosei for his timing. The two hurried over toward a quieter corner with some drinking fountains and pulled out their morphers. "Go ahead." Troy said quietly while Emma kept watch.

Gosei's deep voice replied, "Rangers, there's been a monster sighted near the city's central plaza. The others are already on their way."

"Got it." Troy called putting his morpher away and turning to Emma. "We have to hurry. That isn't far from here!"

With that, both Rangers took off running in hopes they could catch the monster first.

* * *

Meanwhile, Vrak's winged monster flew above the rooftops of the Central Plaza's Market Square, searching for its next victims. After perching on a nearby building, it sniffed at the air and wrinkled its nose. From its vantage point, it spied several young couples happily walking about the shopping district together. It could also sense the strong feelings of hopeful love in the air.

"Disgusting." The monster muttered to itself while it drew a small black bow and several darts made of magic poison. "Let's just see how hopeless and weak the humans become when they face real heartbreak."

With that, the creature fired off a hail of the poison darts on the unsuspecting people. As the people were struck by the darts, each of the victims paused as if they were momentarily stunned before they resumed their conversations or activities. Up above, the gargoyle waited patiently for its magic poison to take effect and watched as the real fireworks began to erupt. Down below, one young man looked on in shock as he offered his girlfriend a fresh bouquet of flowers, only to have her throw the flowers back in his face and angrily storm off.

Across the square, another young woman burst into tears as her boyfriend announced that he wanted to go back to his ex. As he walked off, he passed a teenage boy frantically checking his phone, worrying about why the girl he texted wasn't immediately replying. Nearby, another woman who looked to be around thirty, took the new dress she just bought and dumped it into a trash bin before slumping down, moaning, "Oh, what's the point? I'm never going to get married anyway!"

The gargoyle cackled in glee at all the human anxiety and misery brought on by its magic poison as it hovered down amidst the crowd of unhappy people. "Yes folks, love can be a terrible painful thing. But, just come to me and I'll make all those bad feelings go away!"

All around, the hopelessly heartbroken people in the square turned to the monster and began to crowd around it, begging for its help. "It's feels too awful! I can't bear to live without her! She'll never love me back! Make the pain go away!"

Raising its claw, the gargoyle summoned the magic darts back to its hand, along with the life force drawn out of the victims. All around, several people collapsed to the ground in a comatose state as the monster laughed even harder.

"Hold it right there!" Noah called out as he, Jake, and Gia burst into the square fully morphed. Seeing the scores of collapsed people littering the ground, the Blue Ranger gasped in shock. "What is going on here?"

As the gargoyle froze in momentary surprise, the Black Ranger quickly drew his blaster and pointed it at the monster. "I don't know, but that creep is about to get his wings clipped!"

Gia's hand shot out and halted the Black Ranger from firing. "Careful Jake! You might hit those innocent people!"

As the three Rangers hesitated, the last of the poisoned people gathered around the gargoyle, begging for it to take away the pain of their heartbreak. "With pleasure," the monster cackled gleefully. As the creature absorbed their life forces, Noah frowned, trying to comprehend the strange behavior of the people.

Turning to the Rangers, the gargoyle pulled out several new darts and laughed as it hurled them. "How about you three? You look like you could use some heartbreak!" The three Rangers tumbled aside and dodged the darts as they exploded along the ground. As they regained their footing, they drew their blasters, but found the monster already making a hasty retreat.

"Not so fast!" came a familiar voice as a pair of Power Rangers in red and pink cut off the gargoyle's escape. To the monster's surprise, both Rangers knocked it backward with a combined flying jump kick. As the creature recovered to its feet, it stopped again in surprise as it saw Troy and Emma pull out their own blasters and take aim.

"Oh wow!" it exclaimed, almost recoiling in disgust. "Those are some really strong feelings you two!"

Troy and Emma glanced at each other in momentary confusion, "What?"

But they were cut off as the gargoyle growled, "I don't have time for this! I'll deal with you two lovebirds later!" Before the Red and Pink Rangers could react, the gargoyle beat its powerful wings and kicked up a strong gust of wind and dirt, throwing them backward. As the dust cleared, the other three Rangers rushed in to help their friends, only to find that the monster had escaped.

"Shoot!" Jake grumbled taking a thorough look around. "He got away."

"Are you two ok?" Gia asked, helping Troy and Emma to their feet.

"We're fine." Troy replied stoically as he went into serious leader mode. "What happened to all these people? Are they hurt?"

Noah curiously bent down to examine some of the nearby victims, "Well, the good news is, they're still breathing and have pulses... but they look to be in some kind of coma. I'm guessing it had something to do with those darts that the monster was throwing around."

"Well it looked like some sorry excuse for a cupid." Emma chimed in. "Especially the way it kept talking about love."

Noah frowned pensively, "Well... now that you mention it, right before these people collapsed, they were all crying about how they were heartbroken and didn't want to live anymore."

"Evil enchantment. Got it." Gia called snapping her fingers. "So standard procedure then. We take out the monster and these people get their will to live again, right?"

Troy nodded, "Makes sense. Let's work off that assumption. Gia, I want you to call in some help for these people. In the mean time, we'll split off into teams to locate the monster. Jake and Noah, you two circle around from the district's east end. Emma and I will search from the west."

Everyone nodded and hustled off to their assignment, but as Troy turned to go, he saw Emma taking one more long look at the scores of people laying comatose in the square. "What an awful thing to do." she mused sadly, "breaking people's hearts and hopes for love. It's just not right."

"Don't worry Emma. We'll get em." Troy answered, trying to sound reassuring.

"Yeah." she agreed softly. "Though one thing is still confusing me about all this."

Troy gave a curious look, but stayed silent as Emma began walking beside him. "What do suppose that monster meant when it said it was sensing strong feelings around us? It did seem genuinely surprised."

"Oh..." Troy answered feeling his pulse quicken. "Umm, I guess it could be a lot of things, right? I mean, it could be because we're such good friends, or maybe because we're kinda partners with the whole sky element thing..."

Emma studied him for a long moment with an unreadable expression before continuing on with a shrug, "Maybe."

They continued walking quietly for several minutes before a sudden flash of panic lit up on Emma's face as she seemed to realize something. "Troy! We have to hurry! I think I may know where the monster is headed!"

"What?" Troy sputtered as she grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward the mall.

"If the monster is attracted to strong feelings of love and hope, where do you think there's going to be a lot of it around here?"

"Will and Sarah!" Troy gasped in realization as the two began sprinting back toward the mall. "Come on! We won't have much time!"

* * *

Elsewhere, Will Park walked along and gave a wide smile as he walked down the street chatting with Sarah. Things were going well so far and as they continued to window shop, he felt his confidence growing by the minute. Silently, he thanked each of Troy's friends for the tips they had given him.

Taking some of Noah's advice, he had learned about some of Sarah's favorite movies and music from Gia so that they'd have something to talk about. Later on, he remembered Emma's point about being kind, prompting him to offer carrying Sarah's bags. As they neared a cart selling flowers, Will decided to follow Jake's advice of being bold as he hurried over and paid for a red flower.

As he returned, Sarah stopped and gave a surprised smile. "Will? What's with the flower?"

"Well..." he started tentatively. "I guess there's just something I've wanted to say for a while, but I thought this would do a better job."

Sarah took the flower and gave an amused smile as she sniffed it. "Oh? And what was that?"

Will's mind raced. This is probably where Troy's words would have come in handy had he not looked up to see a huge winged creature land beside him in the plaza. "Look out!" Will cried trying to pull Sarah to safety as she gave a sudden cry of terror.

The gargoyle's eyes burned with glee as it turned to Will and laughed. "Oh, you've got it really bad. I can tell. Just wait until you see how pointless it really is!"

Will gave a fearful gasp and pushed Sarah toward the other fleeing screaming people. "Go Sarah! Run!" He shielded her as the gargoyle stung him with his darts and as Will fell over stunned, Sarah took one last terrified look before running away with the other shoppers.

As the monster loomed over his victim, Will began writhing on the ground as if in pain. "Do you see what unrequited love gets you, boy?" the monster laughed. "You try to tell that girl how you feel and you even stand up to protect her, but what does she do? She runs away and leaves you here. How's that for gratitude?

"It hurts." Will groaned feeling the weight and hopelessness of the monster's poisonous words penetrate deep into him. "Please... I can't..."

"Bear the truth that your little girlfriend won't ever return your feelings?" the monster cackled malevolently as it fixed its eyes on Will, "Well, don't worry kid. I'm here to help you, and I'm going to stat by taking away all your pain."


	3. Act III

As the monster reached down toward Will, it was struck by a beam of energy and thrown away in a shower of sparks. From the other end of the empty plaza, Emma dashed in unmorphed, leveling her Phoenix Shot weapon. Right behind her, Troy ran into the plaza and spotted the downed form of Will. "Emma, buy us a little time! I'm going to get Will to safety!"

The Pink Ranger nodded and quickly morphed, rushing forward to engage the gargoyle as it regained its footing. As Emma began to tumble and harass the creature with her own blaster, Troy hurried over to Will and found his classmate barely conscious, but delirious.

"Will! Are you ok?" Troy gasped, as he checked for any other injuries and found none.

"Troy?" Will croaked in surprise as his head lolled to the side.

Troy slung Will's arm around his neck and began to drag his classmate clear of the battlefield. "Just hang on. I'm gonna get you out of here."

"What are you doing? Just leave me and run." Will groaned.

Troy shook his head, "I can't do that."

"What's the point?" Will continued in delirious pain. "The monster was right. Sarah doesn't care about me. She just ran and left me here to die, so why should I care about living? What chance do I have now?"

"Well, I'm going to make sure you get another chance to tell Sarah how you feel." Troy grunted, getting Will to a safe corner of the plaza.

As the gargoyle grappled with Emma, it turned toward Troy and smirked, "You heard the kid. If he wants to give up and die, then let him!"

Troy slowly rose and faced the monster, clenching his fists in anger. "His heart belongs to him! I won't let you harm it any more!"

Behind him, Will whimpered, "Troy, aren't you scared?"

The Red Ranger turned and looked upon Will with a gentle, but determined expression on his face. "There are times when I get scared too. But whether its in love or war, they're both the same. You can't just run away. If you do, that's when it's truly over."

As she held the monster in place, Emma stood, momentarily distracted by Troy's impassioned speech before the gargoyle broke loose and shoved her aside.

As Will leaned his head back and seemingly passed out, Troy strode toward the monster and pulled out his morpher, transforming into the Red Ranger in a brilliant flash of light. As the gargoyle swatted Emma aside, it stopped in surprise as it saw the Red Ranger draw his Dragon Sword and rush into the battle with a furious shout.

Before the creature could react, the Red Ranger was upon it, hacking and thrusting with a flurry of blows. As Troy side stepped a swipe from one of the monster's wings, he parried another strike and counterattacked, sending the gargoyle reeling backwards with a powerful slash.

"You again?" it growled. "Can't you see I'm a lover, not a fighter?"

"You could have fooled us!" Emma called back sarcastically, taking a ready stance beside Troy as the other three Rangers joined the battle. "You're going to pay for breaking all those innocent peoples' hearts!"

The monster only chuckled and began to hover off the ground with its wings. "If you can even catch me!"

Nearby, Jake drew his axe and growled, "I've had just about enough of this guy! Let's get em!"

Following suit, the other Rangers charged forward in an all out attack with their weapons, blasters, or bare hands. To their surprise, the swift gargoyle wove through the battle, easily evading all of their attacks, or taking flying leaps to avoid getting hit. As the Rangers growled in frustration, they were all thrown backwards with another powerful gust of wind from the monster's wings.

Giving a victorious laugh, the creature produced its small bow and fired off another volley of poison darts, causing the Rangers to scatter and dive away as the bolts erupted along the ground in small explosions.

As the monster readied another attack, the Rangers crouched behind fallen tables, waste bins, and parkway trees for momentary cover. "What now?" Gia called. "This guy is way too fast! We'll never be able to hit him!"

That's when inspiration struck Troy and he called out to his team. "Everyone, I think it's time we put our own love advice to good use! Jake, Noah, then Gia!"

The other Rangers stopped to look at him a moment before they seemed to slowly catch on. Jake hefted his axe with a grin, "Bold action sounds like a good plan to me!"

Together, he and Gia charged forward and began to take furious swings at the monster with their melee weapons. Again, the monster used its great speed and agility to dodge the Black and Yellow Rangers' strikes, but as it did, it failed to notice the Blue Ranger studying its movements with a readied bowgun.

Again the creature outmaneuvered Jake and Gia, and shoved both of them over onto the ground before taking one last evasive leap upwards toward a nearby building's overhang. As it did, the monster was hit in the wings by a powerful shot from Noah's weapon. As Noah's shot tore through the creature's wings, the gargoyle crashed to the pavement in a heap.

"Now we finish things with style." Emma grinned as both she and Troy pulled out their morphers and unleashed a combined attack with their sky powers. In a flash, the monster was caught in a red swirling tornado and scorched by a bright pink thunderbolt as the wind dissipated. When the dust from the winds cleared, the stunned gargoyle staggered to its feet, only to be met with the Red Ranger's Dragon Sword crashing down on it for a finishing blow.

In one swift motion, Troy's powerful sword strike shattered the gargoyle monster, causing it to explode into a dark cloud of toxic poison and Vrak's magic. As the victorious Rangers powered down, they saw several motes of light emerge from the monster's remains and fly back to revive all the monster's unconscious victims.

Hurrying over, the Rangers gathered around Will as he opened his eyes and sat up groggily. "Hey, easy does it." Emma said gently helping to support him. "You took quite a fall."

Will nodded his thanks, then turned his eyes toward Troy in surprise. "Troy! You were the one who pulled me to safety. Where is the monster? What happened?"

Troy exchanged a knowing grin with the other Rangers and put a hand on Will's shoulder, "You totally missed it. The Power Rangers showed up and took care of everything. We're safe now."

Will nodded tiredly and tried to rise again, but Gia restrained him "Woah. Hold on there. You're in no shape to be running around."

Noah knelt down to his shaken classmate, "Gia's right. Jake and I will get you home. We can sort out the rest of this with you tomorrow."

Will simply grunted in agreement as Noah and Jake hoisted him up by the shoulders and carried him off. Troy watched with concern as the Black and Blue Ranger helped their classmate home when he felt a soft hand on his arm. It was Emma's.

"He'll be ok Troy. We should go check on all the other people that were hurt." With a quiet nod, Troy turned and began to follow Emma and Gia to make sure that the rest of the monster's victims had recovered. There was still a lot to do.

* * *

That following Sunday afternoon, the Rangers sat together with Will at the Brain Freeze, recounting the events of yesterday and treating him to some frozen yogurt. "I appreciate you all doing this." Will said swirling the last of his dessert around with a spoon, "I mean, not just for the dessert, but also for trying to set me up with Sarah yesterday."

"Speaking of which, I heard from her friends that she was able to get away safely." Gia offered helpfully. A large reason was because of you."

Troy put a hand on Will's shoulder, "That was really brave and selfless of you Will. I'm sure if the Power Rangers had seen it, they'd be proud too."

Will shrugged. "I guess so. Still, it's too bad that monster ruined the moment. It seemed like everything was going so well too."

At that moment, Will felt a gentle tap on the shoulder and everyone turned around to see Sarah Munoz, by herself and smiling timidly. "Hey Will. I heard you were here today. I hope I'm not interrupting something."

"Nah. We were just leaving." Troy smiled to her signaling the other Rangers to give them some privacy.

As the Rangers began to move to the farthest corner table, Jake gave a wolfish grin and made a thumbs up to Will as Gia grabbed the Black ranger by his shirt collar and forcefully hauled him away. "Come on! That means you too!"

After the Rangers cleared out, Sarah sat down with Will and smiled, "Listen, I wanted to come and thank you in person for trying to protect me from that monster yesterday. I think you were really courageous for doing that."

"Oh, you're welcome." Will answered sheepishly. "I'm just glad you're safe."

Sarah nodded with a sigh, "You know, I have to be honest. We've never really had much of a chance to talk before now, but I was really having a nice time with you yesterday."

Will shrugged, "Well, to be honest, I was having a nice time with you too."

Sarah gave a thoughtful look with the ghost of a smile on her lips, "It's also too bad that monster attack interrupted everything. If I remember right, wasn't there also something you were trying to say?"

For a moment, Will thought of Troy's words again and returned her smile, "Well… I wanted to say that I really liked you, and there's no reason we can't pick up where we left off, right?"

With that, he stood up and offered his arm, "Would you like to start by taking a walk?"

Sarah laughed, and took his arm. "I'd like that."

From their table, the Rangers watched happily as their classmates exited the Brain Freeze together. "You know, no matter how much you try to study it, I'll never really understand how this love thing works." Noah commented.

"That's because you need a girlfriend first, brainiac." Jake laughed, playfully elbowing his friend.

"And what makes you such an expert? Last I checked, you were still single too." Gia challenged him from across the table. As the three other Rangers erupted into a petty three way bickering match, Troy and Emma exchanged a small smile and began to laugh.

* * *

Later that day, as the early evening sky began to turn orange, Troy and Emma made their way home together from town, walking down the quiet streets of their neighborhood. Here and there, streetlights began to flicker on as they strolled the tree lined road.

"You know, I'm really happy things worked out for Will and Sarah." Emma smiled to herself, "and I'm glad we were able to help too."

"So, I guess that begs the question…" Troy replied with a smirk, "what's the next couple you're going to try and fix up? Jake and Gia maybe?"

Emma laughed aloud and shook her head as she calmed down again, "No. I was thinking I should maybe try to find a match for myself next."

"Oh?" Troy answered with slight worry. "Well, I'm sure you'll have no problems with that."

"Really?" Emma replied, stopping with a faint smile, "Because I was hoping to ask you for some of your advice. What you said the other day about just having to try your best and not run away was really good."

"You think so, huh?" Troy mused turning to look at her. "Because I was thinking I should probably take some of my own advice right now."

Emma looked back to him questioningly as Troy slowly stepped forward and cupped her cheek in his right hand. Leaning in, he softly pressed his lips to hers in a gentle tender kiss before letting go.

Emma stood with a stunned, dreamy expression on her face as Troy tried to catch his own breath, "Will hasn't been the only one with trouble expressing himself to his crush."

"Well, it's about time." Emma laughed gently, "I've been waiting for a while now."

The two continued smiling at each other and after a long pause, Troy turned to go with a sheepish shrug, "Well, I should probably get going. My house is just around the corner."

To his surprise, Emma began walking beside him and took his hand, threading her fingers through his, "But my house is still three blocks from here." she answered shyly. "I was thinking maybe you'd be willing to express yourself again along the way?"

Troy laughed in relief as he put his arm over her and pulled her closer, "I think I can do that… and tomorrow… and maybe if you're really lucky, every day after that too."

Emma sighed and gave a sly look, "You know, for someone who says he doesn't know much about relationships, you sure know how to sweet talk a girl."

Troy smiled in relief and remained quiet. He began to think where to go from here and what to tell the other Rangers tomorrow, but he decided it could wait. For now, he was content to continue walking alongside Emma in the setting sunlight with her hand still in his.

* * *

 **A/N:  
**  
 **Even though I'm not used to writing Romance fics, I still hope you romantics out there liked this one. As always, thanks for reading and feel free to sound off. Did you love it? Did you hate it? Do you want to sue me for contracting temporary diabetes? All comments (and/or Summons & Complaints) will be welcomed. **


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